A Peek Behind The Scenes

You’ve no doubt seen them too.

Lists of “Top 100,” that is. Top 100 wines, for example, or wineries, or restaurants. For consumers and enthusiasts of wine, there is something both compelling and aspirational about these lists. Though we may never in our lifetimes taste or visit the entire directory of 100 entries, such lists nonetheless serve as an orientation and benchmark.

Less of a “to-do list,” that is, and more like a summary of excellence, trends, or popularity right now.

In that way, reputable and well-researched lists (which are nearly always a group effort and offer considered explanations of their choices) serve as a gut check of sorts. Am I up to date with what’s going on throughout the industry? What has caught the eye of other observers that I may have missed? Do I agree enthusiastically or disagree wholeheartedly with the entries, and in what ratio? Have my opinions changed over time?

Those are some of the questions that are front mind when a new “top 100” list is released. This year, I reached out to Joshua Greene, editor and publisher of Wine & Spirits magazine since 1986, on the occasion of his team’s recent announcement of their Top 100 Wineries of 2022.

I was curious for more detail on how such a list is put together, beyond the fundamentals listed in the introduction to the list: it was a group effort and they vetted thousands of wineries plus, in a key distinction that clarifies the focus of the list, Greene and his team’s two-step, blind tasting process highlights wineries’ production of wine as opposed to their hospitality or tourist appeal.

In other words, this isn’t a list of Top 100 Wines, or Top 100 Wineries to Visit. Rather, it is a list of wineries whose collective production of wine is substantive and consistent enough over time to distinguish themselves among their peers.

No one-hit wonders here. There are two things I appreciate most about the Wine & Spirits list: duration over time, and breadth of wines considered.

What follows are excerpts from my conversation with Greene about how his Top 100 Wineries lists come to fruition. Below you’ll find a peek behind the scenes of the logistics and “how it gets done.” In the companion piece, Greene describes this year’s surprises, COVID-related challenges, and what he personally finds most interesting.

How long has Wine & Spirits been producing the list?

JG: The first time we produced Wineries of the Year was in 1987. It has since evolved into selecting out the 100 wineries that performed best as the tastings grew and the magazine grew. We taste and review more than ten thousand wines a year, and the list is selected out of those wineries.

What criteria do you use? How do you gauge which wineries are performing the best?

JG: We do all tastings without the panelists knowing the cost or producer of the wines. They do know the wine’s region, variety and vintage. The critic for that region scores the wine and puts it into our database. At the end of the year, we select all producers that had three or more recommendations with 90 points or more.

We look at each one individually to see how they performed based on their business model and where they are in the world of wine. We want to have as diverse a group as possible. What’s interesting is to show how people are interpreting their place in different parts of the world.

Do you notice any “repeats” or patterns of wineries over time?

JG: We keep track of that on a page in our issue called Premier Cru. Those are the people who are consistently producing wines that score highly with us. This year Penfolds has 30 Top 100 Winery awards, for example. They scored the most over the years. It’s interesting to look at that kind of producer, and how consistent they are. The list that stays in my mind includes Penfolds (30 awards), Concha y Toro (28), Antinori (23), Chateau Ste Michelle & Eroica (24), Ridge (23) and Jadot (20). Those are in an exclusive club.

Describe more about the composition of the tasters and panelists.

JG: We have five critics, then we fill in with other panelists who are people in New York and Los Angeles who have tasted with us regularly. We rely on them as regular tasters. Some are journalists, restaurateurs or retailers. We bring in other people to try them and see if they’re useful sounding boards for us. We aren’t looking for people to agree with us. They’ll bring their own tastes to the table, and I really love it. We ask why they think what they think, and they may convince other people on the panel. It’s really interesting.

We’re looking for people to articulate why they would recommend a wine, why they would tell someone to buy it. What do you find compelling about the wine? It’s a different kind of discussion.

Please see the companion piece to this post for more detail about surprises from this year’s list, COVID-related challenges the past few years, and putting together a less carbon-intensive list for the future.